Stock exchanges overwhelmed by Trump's duties: Wall Street sinks, DJ closes -3.98%, Nasdaq -5.97%. Dollar and oil down

Stocks of import-dependent companies were in big trouble: Nike and Apple, for instance, lost 14.47% and 9.25% respectively at the close. Heavy selling also on Amazon (-9%) and Meta Platforms . Confirmed 25% duties on foreign cars: for this, General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis suffered. However, declines were limited, according to analysts, by the fact that Canada and Mexico were currently spared from reciprocal duties. Also down were the shares of Tesla .

On the macro front, economic activity in the services sector remained buoyant in the US in March, however, posting a downward and lower-than-expected figure. The services Ism fell from 53.5 to 50.8 points, with expectations for 52.9 points. Claims for unemployment benefits fell by 6,000 to 219,000, lower than expectations for 228,000. By contrast, the trade balance deficit in February fell sharply, more than expected: -6.1 % from the previous month to USD 122.7 billion.

The financial market 'will boom'. This was said by Donald Trump when responding to people asking him for comment on Wall Street's reaction to the tariffs. This was reported by Bloomberg news agency.

In Piazza Affari, it was a day to forget for almost all securities in the Ftse Mib. The biggest slump was for oil stocks (-9.85% Tenaris and -9% Saipem). Also heavy was St. John's (-8.3%), with technology among the most troubled stocks on Wall Street. The auto sector, for which tariffs of 25% have been confirmed, remains a special watch with Stellantis (-8%) widening its declines and closing on the day's lows. Utilities (+3.7% Terna) stood out positively, which in addition to their defensive nature benefited from possible further rate cuts by the ECB to curb euro appreciation and growth fears. Also on the podium were Italgas (+3.7%) and Snam (+3.46%) followed by A2a (+3.4%), Enel (+2.7%) and Hera (+2.67%). Leonardo (+3.3%), Inwit (+1.77%) and Tim (+1.6%) also rose.

The oil price plummeted on a very difficult day for the markets after the imposition of reciprocal tariffs by US President Donald Trump, with fears that the measures could trigger a recession and a collapse in oil demand. The price of oil, already falling due to the duties and fears that they would trigger a recession, accelerated to the downside after eight Opec+ producers decided to increase production by 411,000 barrels per day, starting in May. These are Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman.

Oil closed sharply lower in New York, where prices lost 6.64 per cent to $69.95 per barrel.

The dollar's decline intensified, with the euro taking advantage of it to regain the 1.11 mark, following the introduction of heavier-than-expected reciprocal tariffs by US President Donald Trump. The yen travelled to three-week highs while the Swiss franc hit a four-month high. "The announcement of a wide range of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration strongly impacted the dollar, accelerating its downward movement that began at the end of January," comments Stefano Fiorini of Generali Asset Management.

"The devaluation of the dollar is in the interest of the Trump administration, which has been quite clear about its desire for a weak currency," he adds. The problem, Fiorini points out, is that global investors are heavily exposed to overall US assets. 'The danger is that this movement could accelerate as these assets could start to be liquidated and the flow of capital in favour of the US could reverse. This is likely to be a long-term dynamic that could force investors tosell the US currency,' he concludes.

Investors continued to rush towards safe haven assets as the risk of a global trade war became more and more concrete after the imposition of new, harsh reciprocal tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump. Spot gold touched a historic high of $3,167. The April maturity future touched a high at $3,172.60. After breaking records, gold retraced slightly. "There are a few reasons why tariffs support demand for gold: one is the slowdown that tariffs could cause to the US economy, raising the prospects for future rate cuts," say Capital.com analysts.

The risk aversion triggered by the uncertainty produced by the new wave of reciprocal tariffs imposed by the Trump administration also caused bitcoin to slide, back below $82,000. The cryptocurrency hit a low at $81,187. Other major cryptocurrencies, such as Ether and Solana, also fell.

"As risky assets, cryptocurrencies have generally performed poorly during periods of uncertainty, e.g. those related to the introduction of trade tariffs," say analysts at Ava Labs, pointing out that "markets are likely to fall in the short term, not so much because of the tariffs themselves but because of what they represent, namely a return to volatility related to policy choices."

The shock in financial markets following the introduction of new duties by the US brought a moderate flight-to-quality to bond markets where widespread buying bent the yield curve downwards. In Europe, on the Mts circuit, the preference given to German bonds generated a modest widening of the yield differential between the Italian ten-year BTp and the German ten-year peer maturity which, at the end of the day, stood at 113 basis points, up from 110 points on the eve of the meeting. On the other hand, the yield on the benchmark ten-year BTp fell to 3.77% today from 3.82% on the eve of the meeting.

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